08-25-2014, 07:22 AM
Update - Thanks to Masterblaster's advice, I found the pump DOES work. The saga finally ends happily.
You may have seen my other recent post about switching to a Borgeson gearbox in order to get rid of the leak-prone and messy slave-cylinder Bendix steering. (http://mach1club.com/showthread.php?tid=5820 )That went in fine, but shortly thereafter the power steering pump went bad - most likely because I ran it dry for an extended period (by necessity at night on a long trip due to a leak in the old system). I figured I'd try a Borgeson Saginaw-style pump, since that's what originally goes with the Borgeson gearbox. Here's a heads up: it won't work on your 69 Mach 1 351w if you have factory air conditioning.
My 1969 Mach 1 with a 351 Windsor has factory air conditioning. If I removed the air conditioning compressor, this would fit great. In fact, the pump bolts on easily into the two 9/16" holes in the driver-side head, and you don't need to remove the existing pump/compressor bracket. However, once installed, the unit rests directly below the air conditioning compressor with about 1/2" between the filler cap and the compressor. There is no way to remove the filler cap without either removing the pump or the compressor. Here's are 2 pictures of this lovely piece of engineering"
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a758w8mlzcvdn...GZZDa?dl=0
Also, Summit Racing Equipment has the wrong bracket displayed in the picture of this item on their web site. I was concerned about that, because if you check the Borgeson site directly (or even search the internet for pictures of part 800330), the bracket shown is a flat piece of 1/2" steel plate, not the bent piece with arms shown on Summit's site. The item Summit sent to me actually has the flat plate, which is correct for the application (but only if you do NOT have air conditioning.
The unit looks high quality and was easy to install. It would probably work well, but it doesn't fit my application as advertised and now my car is off the road for yet another week as summer quickly passes.
5 stars to Summit service though. The reason I bought this through Summit is due to their great return policy, fast service and informative emails that keep you posted on the entire process. Make sure you read the return policies on competing sites (i.e. Jegs) - many of them will not refund your purchase price, but only give you credit for other merchandise. That's tough to stomach on expensive parts.
Now I'm going back to a rebuilt Bendix/TRW/Eaton pump, which in hind-sight is what I should have done in the first place. The design on the Bendix pump is really bad through, with that huge "O" ring sealing the pump-to-reservoir interface. Combine that with a thin reservoir housing that can easily be dented, and you have a leak just waiting to happen. If you ask me, Ford should have outsourced their power steering design to someone who passed engineering. They seemed to know what they were doing with everything else though.
You may have seen my other recent post about switching to a Borgeson gearbox in order to get rid of the leak-prone and messy slave-cylinder Bendix steering. (http://mach1club.com/showthread.php?tid=5820 )That went in fine, but shortly thereafter the power steering pump went bad - most likely because I ran it dry for an extended period (by necessity at night on a long trip due to a leak in the old system). I figured I'd try a Borgeson Saginaw-style pump, since that's what originally goes with the Borgeson gearbox. Here's a heads up: it won't work on your 69 Mach 1 351w if you have factory air conditioning.
My 1969 Mach 1 with a 351 Windsor has factory air conditioning. If I removed the air conditioning compressor, this would fit great. In fact, the pump bolts on easily into the two 9/16" holes in the driver-side head, and you don't need to remove the existing pump/compressor bracket. However, once installed, the unit rests directly below the air conditioning compressor with about 1/2" between the filler cap and the compressor. There is no way to remove the filler cap without either removing the pump or the compressor. Here's are 2 pictures of this lovely piece of engineering"
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a758w8mlzcvdn...GZZDa?dl=0
Also, Summit Racing Equipment has the wrong bracket displayed in the picture of this item on their web site. I was concerned about that, because if you check the Borgeson site directly (or even search the internet for pictures of part 800330), the bracket shown is a flat piece of 1/2" steel plate, not the bent piece with arms shown on Summit's site. The item Summit sent to me actually has the flat plate, which is correct for the application (but only if you do NOT have air conditioning.
The unit looks high quality and was easy to install. It would probably work well, but it doesn't fit my application as advertised and now my car is off the road for yet another week as summer quickly passes.
5 stars to Summit service though. The reason I bought this through Summit is due to their great return policy, fast service and informative emails that keep you posted on the entire process. Make sure you read the return policies on competing sites (i.e. Jegs) - many of them will not refund your purchase price, but only give you credit for other merchandise. That's tough to stomach on expensive parts.
Now I'm going back to a rebuilt Bendix/TRW/Eaton pump, which in hind-sight is what I should have done in the first place. The design on the Bendix pump is really bad through, with that huge "O" ring sealing the pump-to-reservoir interface. Combine that with a thin reservoir housing that can easily be dented, and you have a leak just waiting to happen. If you ask me, Ford should have outsourced their power steering design to someone who passed engineering. They seemed to know what they were doing with everything else though.